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Every second Saturday of the month, 4 pm - Divine Liturgy in English of Sunday - Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family, Duke Street, London W1K 5BQ. Followed by refreshments.Next Liturgy: Saturday 10th February - 3pm Great Vespers, 4pm Divine Liturgy for Meatfare Sunday (Sunday of God's Fearful Judgment)

To purchase The Divine Liturgy: an Anthology for Worship (in English), order from the Sheptytsky Institute here, or the St Basil's Bookstore here.

To purchase the Divine Praises, the Divine Office of the Byzantine-Slav rite (in English), order from the Eparchy of Parma here.

The new catechism in English, Christ our Pascha, is available from the Eparchy of the Holy Family and the Society. Please email johnchrysostom@btinternet.com for details.

Sunday, 1 June 2014

Patriarch Rai: Reconciliation with Lebanese of South Lebanon Army, they "are not criminals"The exiles in Israel "Lebanese as much as others, even more so”. For Rai, they did not fight against the Lebanese state or institutions. Indirect criticism of Hezbollah, who are blocking the election of a new president in Lebanon. The ordination of a bishop in Haifa

Haifa ( AsiaNews) - The Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai has assured that he will work for reconciliation between the Lebanese state and its citizens who fled to Israel in 2000. He has stated that they are neither "criminals" nor "collaborators" (with Israel).
On the last day of his visit to Israel yesterday, the Patriarch celebrated mass in the church of Saint Louis of Haifa, for the ned of the Marian month of May, and conferred the title of Cor Bishop on Fr. Salim Estephan Soussan, a Maronite born in Kfar Bar'am before the exodus of 1948.

The city of Haifa is home to one third of the 10 thousand Maronites living in Israel. Several of them are wives and children of Lebanese who fought in the South Lebanon Army, which during the war in Lebanon, allied with Israel against the Palestinians and Hezbollah. In 2000, they withdrew to Israel and are currently condemned to a life that is often stunted and without a future.

In an interview with LBCI TV, the patriarch said that it is time for "reconciliation" with this part of the population, since they are neither "criminals" nor "traitors". " Had they fought against Lebanon? Had they fought against the Lebanese state? Had they fought against Lebanese institutions?" Rai asked rhetorically " They - he added - are Lebanese like others, in fact maybe more so" because they are not the ones who have "impeded the presidential election", have not created refugees and poverty, nor have they "created an economic and social crisis in Lebanon".
The allusion is to the Hezbollah and its allies who are blocking the work of the parliament, delaying the election of Lebanese president with serious consequences on the nation's economy and stability.
In fact, Hezbollah has strongly criticized the Patriarch's visit to Israel , calling it "a shame" that threatens to "normalize" relations with the Israeli state .
In theory, Lebanon and the Arab nations are at war against Israel. However, the Patriarch claimed the freedom of a Pastor of the Church to visit his flock wherever it may be, and stressed that his visit to the Maronite community in Israel has a "religious purpose".
On a visit to an Arab Druze village in Isfiya he reiterated: " I did not come here to make political deals ... I did not come here to make commercial, economic, military or security deals. I came here to see our loving people".

Pray for the Unity of the Apostolic Churches

The Society of St John Chrysostom promotes greater appreciation of the spiritual, theological and liturgical traditions of Eastern Christendom, works and prays for the unity of the Churches of East and West, and encourages support for the Eastern Churches :

- the Byzantine and Oriental Catholic Churches in communion with the Apostolic See of Rome (especially in their contemporary calling to promote reconciliation and the recovery of union between Catholics and Orthodox)- the Orthodox Church- the Oriental Orthodox Churches and- the Church of the East.

In the United Kingdom and Europe the Society, founded in 1926, is a group of Catholics of the Latin and Eastern Churches, along with our friends in other traditions, promoting awareness and friendship in the Christian West for our fellow Christians of the East - through prayer and liturgy, conferences and lectures, pilgrimage and ecumenical encounters.